Sunday, November 29, 2009

This blogging stuff is kind of cool. I get to bitch to a much wider audience. It's very cathartic.

Another cool thing about blogging? Sometimes my bitching actually gets me the one thing I hardly ever get any more: my own way.

Yeah, that's right folks. KitchyWitchy got her own way! She won! Three cheers and a herky for TKW!

You might remember a little rant I posted a while back about Thanksgiving dinner. Well, my parents read the rant, took pity on me, and absolved me of my duty of cooking the beige dinner. My mother is cooking the beige dinner the day after Thanksgiving, so I don't have to look at it. She's rather awesome like that.

My generous parents told me that I could cook whatever I wanted on Turkey Day and assured me that they'd be happy to eat it. Talk about something to be thankful for!

I almost foamed at the mouth with excitement. I piled my cookbooks and magazines up like the Leaning Tower of Pisa and riffled pages wildly, looking for the perfect recipes for my feast.

I decided to go with my original idea of Ultimate Asian Feast; ever since I wrote the words Dan-Dan Noodles, I've been battling a severe jones for the stuff. I just hoped daddy wouldn't weep into them.

We had our lovely neighbors, the K Family over for dinner, and Jen generously offered to bring dessert, so at least I knew I could focus on the non-baking part of the feast.

Gavin's First Asian Pear!

The day before, I'd done most of the heavy prep work. I learned a swift little lesson. Asian Feast=Chopping the Shit Outta Way Too Much Stuff.

Still, I was hopeful that the delectable outcome would erase the pain of the Day of Endless Chopping, and for the most part, I was satisfied.

Thanksgiving morning, I realized that everything on the menu required some kind of special sauce. Crap. I started whisking and putting everything into little bowls...and then got completely distracted by my girls' antics...and then came back to the kitchen 10 minutes later and realized I couldn't remember which bowl of sauce belonged with which dish.

So I got to consume things like fish sauce at 10am in the morning in order to sort things out. Yeah.

**I must say, however, that the distraction was totally worth it. Hubs had put the 70's station on the Sirius radio, and watching my girls FLIP OUT over Shaun Cassidy's rendition of "Hey, Deanie" was one of the best parts of my day.

TKW may have even busted a move to that little ditty herself.

Future President of the Shaun Cassidy Fan Club

Hubs was quite distressed by the lameness of our musical taste, but was later put at ease when Miss D. heard the opening riff to Smoke on the Water and deemed Deep Purple "awesome." There may be hope for her yet.

I am going to save the Disaster of the Dan-Dan Noodles for another post, but I will share with you the Prom Queen Dish of the night. By far, everyone went apeshit over the Shrimp Pot Stickers. Totally worth the trip to Chopping Hell.

The original directions say to combine the first 10 ingredients in a food processor and pulse until coarsely chopped. I don't like the texture of pot stickers with filling made like this. Sooooo, I finely and meticulously chopped up all of the ingredients by hand. STILL worth it.

Working with 1 wonton wrapper at a time (cover remaining wrappers with a damp towel to prevent drying), spoon about 1 1/2 tablespoons shrimp mixture into the center of each wrapper. Moisten edges of wrapper with water; bring 2 opposite corners to center, pinching points to seal. Pinch 4 edges together to seal. Place pot stickers on a large baking sheet sprinkled with cornstarch.

**I was lucky enough to have many sous chefs around who wanted to make pot stickers! Mama, who'd never made a pot sticker in her life, was by far the best at pinching them into the proper shape. Who knew?

This Lady has MAD Dumpling Skills!

Heat a tablespoon canola oil in a nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add 12 pot stickers to pan; cook 2 minutes or until bottoms are golden brown. Slowly add 1/2 cup water to pan; cover and cook 4 minutes. Uncover and cook 1-3 minutes more or until liquid evaporates.

... and you're afraid of working with yeast? Woman, I don't think I could do a dumpling justice. Awesome that you got the turkey dinner sans turkey, sans Chernobyl creamed onions. Yeah, booze. That always makes things taste better, when it's pickled a bit. That's the chef I'm referring to!

Ah yes, chopping hell ... welcome to the world I grew up in :D. I earned myself some decent cleaver skills as a result, but man did it take effort. So glad the dumplings were a success! As for Dan-Dan noodles, I got nothin'. But I can't wait to hear the story.

Looking forward to the Dan-Dan noodle tale...! Those dumplings look oh so professional! The meal sounds yum and like a lot of effort went it - impressive! :) Miss D looks cute in her dress...my mum loves Deep Purple and she is always trying to make me listen to it...! xxx

It all sounds wonderful, and those pot stickers just look freaking amazing... I normally shy away from trying things like that, out of fear of course, but I might be a tad bit inspired now. Thanks :) And what a great idea to shake up Thanksgiving and do whatever you want. Nice.

I love chopping stuff up -- I get to pretend I'm a chef or something. Also, it's a great way to release a lot of tension and anger. Pissed off at someone? Chop their fingers off! (Pulling weeds/hair and knocking the stem out of a lettuce / person head is also therapeutic). I'm pleased to say I've managed to lose most of the people from my life who made me feel that way, but I still love chopping.

Hey there--I find you on all the cool blogs so I had to follow you home. I'm very jealous that you got to avoid the beige meal, although mine was cooked for me by my sweet darling(and for my parents--my wife is the best daughter-in-law ever!) I could eat my sweetie's stuffing and gravy for days. But I'd much prefer shrimp potstickers. Or really anything made with Sriracha.

I wonder what would happen if I tried to serve my parents something with Sriracha in it? Note to self....

You rebel, you. Whipping up an Asian feast on Thanksgiving? Love it. Who cares what sauce goes on what as long as you have plenty of SAUCE (booze)! Every time I read one of your posts, I am reminded of the fact that food can enhance family and feel I should start cooking. (This is a good thing.)

I love your untraditional Thanksgiving!!! I can't stand the beige dinner either...but I will never be able to get away with making something else. So I console myself with lots of turkey sandwiches with bacon, avocado and hardboiled egg...dripping with mayo.

We forewent the turkey this year and did Cornish hens. Stuffed with orange slices and garlic. And they were yummy. Small bird=infusion of flavor faster. I think turkey dinner is highly overrated. Extended family likes a traditional thanksgiving framework (poultry, yams,some sort of jellied salad *ick*), but within that, I can play. So I'm the goofball that adds pineapple and maple syrup to the yams instead of marshmallows, for example, among other things. I'm not into stuffing either, but add a bunch of nuts and dried fruit and at least it's a bit interesting. And, surprise, my family was all "What is in this? It's yummy!" the first time I made these changes, and now they look forward to something new. Not a bad idea to shake things up a bit. Everyone will live--and they might just like the change. Dunno if I'm brave enough to completely break free, yet, though. 12-step program?

Ungourmet: I actually thought of you when that song came on the radio! I KNEW it was gonna make you all sweaty! Do you want to be the Sectetary/Treasurer of the fan club? Goldfish has dibbed the VP position!

Jane, Jennifer and Allegria: the potstickers were easier than I thought they'd be! Except for the chopping, of course.

GEW: Way to get your antioxidants in at lunchtime! You are my kind of chick.

And I know! I just about peed myself when I saw that awkward video and that dorky sweater! That is *not* the studmuffin that I remember. If you'd like, I could take you to a Jonas Brothers concert, so you could make up for your loss? *gigglesnort*

Oh, I am so happy that you got to make your version of Thanksgiving!! As I said in a previous comment, it broke my heart to think that you would not love a holiday that is all about food. What kind and thoughtful parents and your daughter looks adorable in that dress! So glad you had a great day.

YEAH for you! THAT pot sticker is gorgeous. Please give your mom my best regards. (Seriously, I cannot pinch the dumplings if my life depends on it. I was made fun of mercilessly for the lack of dumpling pinching skills...) And that picture of your girl? Precious. :-)